Bucket discharge means



Dec. 16, 1952 J. R. STEELMAN BUCKET DISCHARGE MEANS Filed NOV. 5, 1949 INVENTOR. In?

Patented Dec. 16, 1952 BUCKET DISCHARGE MEANS Julien R. Steelman, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to Koehring Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation Application November 5, 1949, Serial No. 125,688

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the art of conveyors,

and particularly to the type of conveyors in which a conveyor bucket or carrier is movable along a boom or trackway and equipped with a discharge gate or equivalent means for the discharge of material conveyed therein, under the control of a fluid pressure operated unit supported on the bucket or carrier, said unit bein operable by a suitable control device or valve unit located at an operators station adjacent to the boom or trackway. The invention hereof is particularly adapted for use in connection with boom and bucket conveyors of the type employed in conjunction with boom and bucket pavers or mixing machines commonly in use today, in which the bucket is supplied with mixed concrete from a concrete mixer mounted on the machine and is carried away from the mixer for depositing upon a sub-grade said concrete at any point in the length of the boom or trackway movably mounted upon the machine proper.

In the carrying out of the present invention it is contemplated to mount upon the so-called conveyor or distributing bucket a fluid pressure ram or unit which is supplied with fluid under pressure from a suitable pressure reservoir, said ram being connected to the discharge gate of the bucket to operate the latter to open the same fully or to variable degrees dependent upon whether the entire batch of material in the bucket is to be dispensed for distribution, or partial amounts of said material. Flexible conduits or pipes together with certain rigid sections of such pipes in a continuous line lead from the operators station of the machine, and from the source of supply of the pressure fluid, to the ram or piston unit on the bucket itself and this invention lies in the provisions made for the supporting of the flexible portions of said conduit upon the boom or trackway so that the pressure fluid may be supplied to the ram and released there'- from at any point in the travel of the bucket along said boom or trackway, at the will of the operator located at the operators station.

More specifically speaking, the invention involves the employment of a swinging arm support which is mounted upon the boom or trackway and which is adapted to automatically adjust itself to various positions taken by the flexible conduit sections connecting between the control valve unit at the operators station and the ram on the bucket whereby the flexible conduit means and its connected rigid sections of piping will be maintained operative under all conditions of the use of the bucket as it travels outwardly and inwardly on the trackw-ay relatively to the mixer by which it is supplied with the material to be distributed.

A preferred adaptation of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and will be specifically described hereinafter, and referring to said drawings:

Figure 1 is a general view in side elevation showing the front end of a portable boom and bucket paving machine illustrating the application of my invention thereto, the distributing bucket being shown mounted on said boom and the arrangement of the conduits supported by the novel means of my invention, being fully disclosed, as well as the control device at the operators station and the mechanical unit on the bucket which is fluid pressure operated to open the discharge gate of the bucket in the manner previously mentioned.

Figure 2 is a detailed top plan view of the swinging supporting arm for the flexible conduit sections adjacent to the boom, dotted lines showing the limit of swinging movement in a leftward direction and the boom being shown in a fragmentary manner only.

Figure 3 is a detailed vertical section taken about on the line 33 of Figure 2 and bringing out a little more clearly the pivotal mounting of the swinging arm.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the portion of the supportin machine for the boom or trackway A, as illustrated, is designated at B. The said machine comprises largely a portable frame mounted on wheels l as illustrated though it may be supported by crawlers if desired, and the boom A is mounted on a bracket 2, carried by the framework of the machine so that the boom may be swung horizontally about a vertical axis in said bracket 2, the bracket 2 carrying a secondary bracket 3 to which the boom A is directly pivoted for swinging vertically about the pivotal axis 4 disposed horizontally.

On the boom A is mounted a carriage or trolley 5 supported by suitable rollers 6 shown in full and dotted lines in Figure l of the drawings and the said carriage 5 depends from the boom and suppo ts the so-called distributing bucket 7 which is adapted to be charged with aggregate material, such as concrete, when said bucket reaches a position below the chute 8 which is the discharge chute of a mixer drum and mounted upon the frame of the paving machine.

The boom A is of conventional construction known to the art, being braced longitudinally by means of a truss frame 9 anchored at its 0D- posite ends near the opposite end portions of the boom and including the vertical strut l0. Cable means H are trained along the boom and extend from the inner end thereof upwardly to an actuating drum adapted to operate said cable means for moving the bucket I outwardly and inwardly, lengthwise of the boom A. Said cable means and substantially all of the other features of the machine, as above described, are conventional to the art and do not comprise any special portion of the present invention. This is also true in reference to hoist cable means |2 leading from the upper portion of the frame of the machine B downwardly and around a sheave |3 adjacent to the middle portion of the boom and connected by a pivoted hanger 4 with said boom.

At the lower discharge portion of the bucket l, the latter is equipped with the pivoted gate l5 supported by the pivot means l6 for arcuate swinging movement for being shifted from its full line position of Figure l to a position laterally of such full line position wherein the discharge opening of the bucket 1 will be opened a greater or less degree, or entirely closed, as the case may be.

Now on the bucket I there will be seen to be a fluid pressure ram IT, in the form of an hydraulic cylinder into the body of which may be admitted and discharged pressure fluid such as oil for moving the piston of the ram. Said piston is operably connected at its lower end by a piston rod it! with a pivot bracket E9 on the forward side portion of the gate and directly carried by one of the pivoted hanger members of said gate. Connected with the upper and lower ends of the cylinder of the hydraulic unit or ram I! are connecting pipes 2| and 22, pipe 2| being a substantially straight pipe and the pipe 22 an angular section of pipe, and through these pipes or pipe sections the oil is supplied and discharged from opposite ends of the unit l1.

Leading upwardly from the pipe section 2|, and suitably connected therewith, is a flexible or rubber conduit section 23 and similarly, leading from the pipe section 22, is a second flexible or rubber tube or pipe 24.

Attached by means of a suitable bracket to the side of the carriage 5, adjacent to which the ram I! is disposed on the bucket, are a pair of relatively vertical rigid pipe sections 25 and 2'! forming extensions of the conduits 23 and 24 respectively, and held rigidly on the carriage and bucket unit in the manner stated. The pipe sections 25 and 21 are connected at their upper ends by so-called Chicksan swivel couplings 28 .and

29 respectively, to other flexible rubber or like conduit sections 39 and 3| respectively, which lead along the boom A to the upper horizontal portion 32a of a vertical support 32 mounted on the truss frame 9 carried above the boom A. The unit 3232a is virtually a swinging arm, including the part 32a, and having a vertical axis portion 32. The flexible conduit members 3! and 30 are suspended from the horizontal arm 32a by small brackets and held in place on the vertical pivot portion of the support by clampingpart 33, said conduits 30 and 3! leading downwardly along the axis portion of the support 32 to points adjacent the lower end of said axis portion and then lead along the boom A toward the boom supporting machine B, being directly attached by suitable fasteners 34 to the adjacent portions of the truss frame 9. From the inner end of the boom A the conduits 30 and 3| have flexible reaches thereof leading to and connected with a casing 35 of a valve controlling unit C, located adjacent to the operators station D on the machine B. The control unit C has a pressure fluid supply pipe 36 connected to the casing 35 thereof for supplying the pressure fluid from a suitable reservoir or pump to the control unit. On the casing 35 of said unit are located control valve levers 31, adapted to be manipulated by the operator at the operators station on the machine B for controlling the passage of the pressure fluid, oil in this instance, through the flexible conduits and pipe sections to the pipes 2| and 22 for supplying pressure to opposite sides of the piston in the hydraulic unit ll, according to well known practice.

One of the valve levers 31 may be operated to cause a greater or less amount of pressure oil to be admitted to the cylinder of the pressure unit H on one side of the piston thereof to cause full opening of the gate |5 or partial opening of said gate in varying degrees to control the discharge of the contents of the bucket l. The other of said levers 31 may be operated to cause the pressure fluid to act upon the piston in the unit I"! to effect a closing movement of the gate l5 of the bucket I. They may of course, be operated at any time during the traverse of the bucket l1 outwardly along the boom A as the bucket is propelled by means of operation of the cable means i This operation may also be performed while the boom A is positioned either horizontally or in an upwardly inclined position and depending upon the point at which the bucket 1 is to be discharged of the aggregate or mixed concrete carried therein.

On the vertical standard 38, carried by the truss frame 9, to which standard the axis portion of the support 32 is swiveled, is carried a stationary bracket 39 having right-angularly disposed wings, as seen best in Figure 2, and an arm 4|) extending horizontally from the support 32 is adapted to abut with either one of the wing members of the bracket 39 for limitingthe angular swing of the support 320, or horizontal arm carried by the member 32.

It is believed that the operation of the invention will be self-evident from the foregoing description. As the bucket 1 moves outwardly along the boom A the portions of the flexible conduits 39 and 3|, more adjacent to the machine B are caused to swing with the horizontal arm 32 a greater or less distance depending upon the extent of movement of the bucket I. If the bucket is shifted along the boom A until it reaches approximately the outer end of the boom, then the conduit sections 30 and 3| seen in Figure 2 in full lines, more adjacent to the machine B, will be swung outwardly toward the end of the boom to the dotted line position shown in said figure. along with the swinging arm 32a.

Since flexible conduits such as 30 and 3| are desirably used in conjunction with the controllin of the operation of the ram or unit ll, it will be evident that there is provided, according to this invention, a convenient and simple method of mounting of the conduits upon the boom so as to permit the shifting of these conduits at the necessary portions thereof outwardly and inwardly along the boom while maintaining them properly positioned for carrying the pressure fluid to the hydraulic unit H irrespective of the location of the bucket l in its traverse along said boom A.

The machine 15 is, of course, a main support having an operators station, and carries the track-way or boom A which is adapted to be traversed longitudinally in opposite directions by the carrier or bucket 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a main support havin an operators station, a trackway extending from the support, a bucket adapted to traverse the traclcway from end to end in opposite directions, a discharge gate for the bucket, a fluid pressure receiving and operated device on the bucket connected to the gate to open and close the same, a valve unit and operating means therefor at the operators station, flexible conduit means leading from the valve unit to supply pressure fiuid to the pressure operated device for gate actuation and extending along the trackway, and an arm movably supported on the trackway having connections to the flexible conduit means so as to be shifted thereby, said arm supporting portions of the conduit as the same is shifted incident to movement of the bucket in traversing the trackway.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the trackway is a horizontally swinging boom, combined With a vertical axis member for the arm connected to the trackway boom interme- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 418,231 Rucker et a1 Dec. 31, 1889 1,236,302 Hooper Aug. 7, 1917 1,785,031 Lichtenberg Dec. 16, 1930 2,291,539 Faber et a1. July 28, 1942 2,457,604 Schiro Dec. 28, 1948 2,487,585 Pencek Nov. 8, 1949 

